Today, I am so excited to announce that Nikki Maxwell herself is stopping by the blog today! It seems she has lost her diary and is asking for our help. Play the video below to find out more.

Wow Nikki! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Rachel Renee Russell has graciously offered up a Nikki’s purse giveaway for one lucky reader of mine! The purse includes some of Nikki’s favorite items- a pink purse purse, a hardcover copy of the book, and tons of goodies (Love’s Baby Soft perfume, nail polish, gum, a fun pen, and even more).

Four ways you can enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post by June 16th.
2. Blog about the giveaway (this will earn you TWO extra entries)
3. Twitter about the giveaway (1 extra)
4. Facebook about the giveaway (1 extra)

Leave a separate comment for EACH entry, meaning you can have up to FIVE comments!! Good luck!

TWENTY BOY SUMMER

“Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?”
“Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?”
According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie—she’s already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

One theme that rose to the top of my “What Do You Want to Know?” series was assessing students. In reading and writing workshop, assessment can be a struggle for those who are tied to a standard grading scale of A-F. However, Mark Overmeyer has a new book coming out in July, What Student Writing Teaches Us, that focuses on using assessment to empower and improve student writing.

“Assessment, when used correctly in a formative way, can empower students and teachers to not only improve, but better yet, to believe in themselves as writers and teachers of writing. And once you believe you are a writer, and a teacher of writing, any barrier, no matter how imposing, begins to crumble.”
—Mark Overmeyer

Right now, you can read What Student Writing Teaches Us on the Stenhouse website for FREE! What a fantastic way to start the summer. Even better? Mark Overmeyer will be answering your questions here in June 25th! So get reading and come back to this post to ask Mark your questions about formative assessment.

And seeing as this is my birthday giveaway month, there is a contest you can enter, too!

Contest details from the Stenhouse website:

In his new book Mark discusses how a writing prompt that might seem limiting actually helps students focus their writing. He talks about a second-grade classroom where students were excited to write about the following topic: “Your baby brother is inside the house and you are locked out and need to figure out a way to get back in.”

Your challenge is to write a quick, piece in 500 words or less for that prompt. Mark will select the winner, who will receive a free, signed copy of What Student Writing Teaches Us. Submit your entries by July 15 to zmcmullin@stenhouse.com. The best entries will be posted on the Stenhouse blog and website.

How awesome is that? I’m about halfway through the book and I’ve already taken copious notes- it’s a great book for teachers of writing!

The Clique Summer Collection #1: Massie (Clique Series) by Lisi Harrison is the first of the Clique Summer Collection books. I’ve never read the Clique books but every year I have a handful of students who love them. I’ve flipped through them before but I’ve never sat down and read one all the way through.

Massie is a spoiled brat. In fact, spoiled probably isn’t even a strong enough word. She drove me crazy throughout the book, tossing out designer names, treating her friends and parents like dirt, and generally being a miserable human being. Yet, I couldn’t put the book down. This is chick-lit for kids, silly, over-the-top, and fun to laugh at. You would never want to be friends with Massie but you totally love laughing at her insanity!

I know there are some people who think the Clique series is teaching tweens to focus solely on looks and designer brands but my students laugh at that idea. They tell me all the time that they know the books are fiction and they would never even talk to someone like Massie in real life. But they do love reading about girls like her.

I’ve been reading this one on and off all day. It’s definitely a great book to flip through and read what interests you. But I love these books because they always hook my students. The illustrations by Simon Basher are fun to look at and always catch my students’ attention.

The topics in this edition of Basher’s science series, Biology: Life as We Know It! include cells, mammals, DNA, and much more. A great addition to any science teacher’s library.